By Larry Weishuhn
I have long been a fan of the .44 Magnum cartridge when it comes to hunting with handguns. With my Ruger Blackhawk Hunter and more recently my Taurus Raging Hunter I have taken a fair number of big game species, from javelina to deer to black bear and elk. Frankly, until recently I really had not thought about using the round in a lever-action for hunting deer. Those thoughts changed a while ago visiting with Gary Roberson with Burnham Brothers Game Calls. Gary hunts not only with predator and other calls he also loves hunting with hounds for black bear and mountain lion. While visiting with him about a bear hunt on the Southern Ute Reservation he told me he had started using the .44 Mag and Hornady ammo to shoot treed bears. He loved what the round did in quickly killing bears. That got me to thinking.
Yes, the bears were taken at relatively close range where shots were controlled as to proper shot placement. But then, I could likely do the same when it came to hunting whitetails.
I had hunted periodically with lever action rifles, going back to my father’s Model 94 .30-30 win, my brothers Model 99 Savage in .300 Savage, my father-in-law’s Winchester Model 88 in .243, my Marlin’s Guide Rifle in .45-70 Govt. and of course long wanting a Winchester Model 1895 like Teddy Roosevelt had long used. I had also on occasion used a .30-30 Win Henry. Maybe it was time I again got to shooting and hunting with lever guns.
I have long a fan of blued steel, pretty wood, classy looking rifles. This is one of the reasons I really like, had long been enamored and hunted with Ruger Number 1 single-shots. But recently I had been attracted to Rossi’s R92 lever-action .44 Mag, particularly after I spotted one in a New Mexico gun store while in Albuquerque to speak to the New Mexico DSC Chapter’s annual banquet. I immediately noticed the beautifully grained wood stock, gorgeous! I asked the man behind the counter if I could please handle the rifle. He handed it to me, I worked its smooth action and even though I knew it was unloaded I checked the chamber and magazine several times. Certain it was not loaded I tried the trigger. Hmmm, nice and crisp. The rather compact lever action was classy looking and classic in every way! Had I been back home in Texas I would have given them them my credit card and after filling out all the proper paperwork taken that rifle home with me.
Before leaving Albuquerque I went back by the gun shop to have one more look. No doubt the wood on that particular rifle was really nice!
Back home I got in touch with the media/marketing folks at Rossi. Yes, if I provided them with a FFL they would sell me a Model 92, and yes they would see if they could find one with nice wood. A couple of months later I got a call from Schubert’s Guns, the gun shop I deal with in my home town. After filling out the proper paperwork, and paying for the rifle I bought a box of Hornady .44 Mag Custom, 240-grain XTP ammo and headed to the range on my place to determine how accurately it shot.
Shooting open sights, using Hornady’s 240-grain XTP Custom ammo, at 50-yards, from a less than perfect rest, I put five shots into a 3-inch circle. Undoubtedly the rifle was considerably more accurate if shot by someone with younger eyes, or using a red-dot sight or scope, and was shot from a solid rest.
I planned on using open-sights on upcoming whitetail hunts. Two more 3-shot, tighter groups confirmed I could take a deer with 8-inch vitals out to at least 50-yards, and farther.
I did not get to hunt with my new Rossi Model 92 until after the Annual DSC Outdoor Expo in January. My hunt took place on the lease I share with DSC’s Executive Director Corey Mason, his dad Jim, and some of their friends. Thankfully the spacious West Texas property is under Texas’s Managed Land Deer Permit. This allows hunting deer until the end of February. Annually lease members are issued a certain number of buck and antlerless “tags”. Usually that amounts to up to four or five buck tags, of which one can be a “big antlered or trophy buck” the rest of the tags are to be used on older 8-point or less bucks. Our lease is blessed with a lot of really nice bucks, but also a lot of older 8-points. I intended to take one of the older 8-points with my lever action; doing so “old school” by watching well-used trails, or preferably, spot and stalk. Half of the terrain and vegetation on our lease look like the rather flat and brushy Rio Grande Plains of southern Texas. The other half looks like the cedar and oak covered hills and canyons of the Edward’s Plateau. I spent most of my hunting time “on the flats”.
During the first day of my hunt I spent time scouting, although at the same time also hunting. When hunting our lease I generally take to camp at least two guns, usually either a .44 Mag or .454 Casull Taurus Raging Hunter revolver, and a Mossberg Patriot Predator 7mm PRC loaded with appropriate Hornady ammo. This time I had a third gun with me, my new .44 Mag Model 92 Rossi.
First day I hunted with my revolver and rifle. Since I needed to take my quota of does I shot a doe with each, my .454 Raging Hunter and the 7mm PRC Mosberg, using Hornady ammo. With two deer in the cooler that night I decided come the morrow I would only hunt with my .44 Mag lever action.
Morning broke gray with threatening skies. Strong winds started blowing out of the north, and the sky opened thankfully dropping needed water onto a thirsty land. Late that evening the sky cleared as the sun had all but disappeared. Legal shooting light was fading rapidly when I spotted an ancient 8-point feeding where cedars and mesquites met. Unfortunately, he was too far away for a shot or even to get close to him before legal shooting time would ended. Hopefully he would stay in the area and I could find him in the morning. A local friend, Richard Long, stopped by to visit that night. And, as is so often the case, it did not take long to spend my hunting camp night. After coffee and quick breakfast, I headed to the area where I had seen the buck the evening before, long before any hint of the coming day.
A few mintues later, I was sitting on a small rise in total darkness preparing to glass the area where I had last seen the buck the evening before. First light I spotted the 8-point 600-yards away. With a brisk breeze blowing in my face, I quickly cut the distance to 200-yards of where I thought he should be. A bit more glassing, I spotted him again. I looked him over and watched him closely. No doubt, he was definitely old.
Scanning the terrain and trees, I planned my stalk to get me within a hundred yards or less.
Each time the old buck looked or turned away I moved quickly, though cautiously, from one cedar tree and bush to another. If all went well. If I could cut the distance to less than 100-yards. There I would sit down, get a solid rest, cock the hammer and when the sights lined up properly, pull the trigger.
The buck continued feeding, trying to repair from the rigors of the rut. He had browsed just into a small clearing in the mesquites. When he did offering a clear shot I sat down and steadied the lever-action, cocked the hammer, took one more deep breath, let it all out and then squeezed the trigger. At the shot, the buck lunged forward and fell dead.
At his side, I said a prayer of thanks. The buck was all I thought he would be. I was thrilled. I checked his teeth. His premolars and molars were worn almost even with his gums. No doubt the was at least 8-years old. In spite of his age, he was in good body condition, thanks in part to the early winter rains our area had received bringing with it lush winter weed growth. Those same weeds, or forbs if you will, equate to producing some of the best whitetail venison I have ever tasted.
I gutted him, took some self-time photos, attached the MLDP tag, then dragged my buck to the nearest pasture road where I could pick him up to get him back to camp. Once there I planned to cape and skin the carcass before hanging it the walk-in cooler at camp.
I had accomplished what I set out to do, take a nice and old buck with an open-sight .44 Mag Rossi lever action rifle. I could not have been happier!
The afternoon and morrow would bring more lever action adventures, but that as has been said is “another” story!
